The Limping Dog by J.R. Lindermuth: Book Review & Giveaway

Last year we reviewed J.R. Lindermuth’s Being Someone Else, a crime novel (link at the end of this review), so when he wrote me about his new mystery novel, The Limping Dog, I couldn’t resist. If you’re looking for a fun mystery novel to take to the beach this summer, then check out the review below. Oh, and to make it even more fun, the author has provided an autographed copy of The Limping Dog for one lucky reader to win!

Gavin Cutter is an artist living in a small New England coastal village. He loves it there because it’s so remote and he has no distractions to take him away from concentrating on his art. One day as he’s painting on the beach, he sees a boat run aground on the reef just offshore. When he and a couple of fishermen who had been working on the beach go onboard, everything looks normal. It’s as if everyone just vanished. The only odd thing they find onboard is a dog with a pronounced limp.

“Cutter raced over the dunes, knowing it was too late…
’Where’s the crew?’ one of the fishermen asked, clambering up behind him.
‘Damned if I know.’
…’Where the hell are they?’ one of the fishermen asked, scratching at his scalp. ‘What the devil happened?’
…Despite the disorder, nothing obvious seemed to be missing…Cutter checked and found the radio in working order.
‘Doesn’t make sense,’ he said, shaking his head.”

Cutter adopts the limping dog, who he names Ketch in honor of the type of boat on which he was found, and then just goes on about his life. That is until insurance investigator TJ Flood comes to town, trying to determine whether to pay out Ron Meyer’s wife’s insurance claim against the boat.

There’s also the not-so-small matter of what became of the owner, Ron Meyers, a wealthy computer company owner who disappeared into thin air, and his crew. It’s presumed they were all lost at sea somehow but no one really knows what became of them. That’s bad enough but apparently all plans for a radical new microprocessor were also lost with Ron.

“’Ron – that bloody genius – took it a step forward. He developed the mother of all microprocessor systems.’
‘Really? That’s fantastic.’
Smyth flopped back in his seat. ‘Yes. But alas – lost.’
‘What? I don’t understand.’
‘Ron was very secretive when it came to development. No one was allowed to know anything until he was absolutely ready to unveil his project. And, whatever he was working on disappeared with him.’”

The not very sociable Cutter really doesn’t want to get involved, preferring to bury himself in his art. Because she’s an animal lover, Ron Meyer’s wife oddly enough wants Cutter to have the insurance claim money because he rescued Ketch but he refuses. He feels it would compromise his dedication to his art to have that much money.

Cutter’s recently unemployed news reporter daughter, Delia, however, has other plans. She smells a story and is itching to dig into the mystery of the limping dog. When she and TJ decide to join forces in investigating this mystery, they have no idea the danger they will bring to everyone on the beach the day the boat ran aground.

I really liked TJ and Delia, including the sparks that develop between them during their sleuthing. They really balance each other out. I had mixed feelings about Cutter. Although I admired his dedication to his art, his feeling that a vow of poverty was necessary to be a dedicated artist seemed very wrong-headed. There are also lots of fun, quirky town characters who I enjoyed. I’m not going to talk about the villain(s) in this novel because doing so would provide spoilers.

The Limping Dog is a light mystery with enough twists and turns to make it lots of fun. It will make for a quick beach read, with interesting small-town New England characters; however, don’t expect anything very deep or difficult to figure out. Sometimes that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for, so if you also feel that way then check it out. And one lucky reader will win an autographed copy for some lazy summer afternoon reading!

Can’t wait to read it?

The Limping Dog was published earlier this year, so it should be available from your favorite bookseller below. Just click the button to go there to get it.

To read our review of J.R. Lindermuth’s novel, Being Someone Else, click here.

I’d love to get your comments on The Limping Dog, J.R. Lindermuth or his other work, and/or this review.

If you like this review, please “like” it, +1 it, and share it with your friends!

The Giveaway:
One lucky reader will win an autographed trade paperback copy of The Limping Dog by J.R. Lindermuth!

1) The deadline for entries is Saturday night, 6/9/2012, at 11:59pm EDST. No entries after that date/time will be eligible.
2) This giveaway is open to entries with U.S. mailing addresses only because we do not ship books outside of the U.S.
3) You must be at least 15 years old to enter this giveaway.
4) You must use the Rafflecopter form. Even if leaving a comment is part of the giveaway, you must use the form in addition to leaving the comment for the comment to count as an entry.
5) If you already follow PopcornReads on Twitter or Facebook, you must still complete that part of the Rafflecopter form for your follow to count as an entry.
6) If you do not provide a complete mailing address in the Rafflecopter form, your entry will not be eligible. We will use your mailing address to ship your book to you.
7) That’s it – it’s a very easy giveaway, so have fun and best of luck!

If you’ve never used Rafflecopter before to enter a giveaway, here’s a little 45 sec. video on how to do it: